Get Ready for BanterFest-SouthWest!
We’re bursting with excitement to announce that BanterFest SouthWest is making its debut in the beautiful Teign Valley, Devon, from Friday, May 8th to Monday, May 11th, 2026!
After three hugely successful sell out years of BanterFest Lincolnshire, we’re bringing our cherished boutique festival experience to a new, breathtaking location. Expect the very best of the UK folk scene, curated with care, ensuring a weekend packed with incredible music and unforgettable moments.
Here’s what awaits you:
* Top-Tier Folk Artists: Discover an amazing lineup of the UK’s finest folk musicians, all handpicked to create an intimate and vibrant atmosphere.
* Immersive Activities: Dive into super workshops, join in on romping sessions, and dance the night away at a spectacular ceilidh featuring The Bismarcks who are joining us to celebrate their 40th anniversary!
* The Banter Bar: Quench your thirst with a fantastic selection of local ales and wines from a nearby family-run vineyard.
* Culinary Delights: Savor top-notch food on-site each day from the renowned culinary goddess, Alice in the Kitchen.
* The Legendary Banterlympics: Prepare for some friendly competition! Who will win the coveted Banjo-Whanging trophy this season?!
The backdrop for our new addition to the BanterFest family is the picturesque village of Christow, nestled amidst the lush green Devonshire hills. The Teign Valley Community Hall offers fully accessible facilities, convenient adjacent camping, showers, and a well-stocked on site community run shop.
Getting here is easy too, with good public transport links directly to the site. Take some time to explore Christow’s charming granite church and its historic 12th-century thatched pub.
And of course, keep your eyes peeled for a few extra surprises we have in store – but you’ll have to wait and see! We can’t wait to share this magical weekend with you!
Get your BanterFest SouthWest tickets here.
OUR ARTISTS
SPIERS & BODEN
Spiers & Boden first rocketed onto the music scene in 2001, quickly winning a clutch of BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and going on to form and front the extraordinarily successful folk big band Bellowhead.
The duo reformed in 2021 after a seven-year hiatus, arriving with a new album ‘Fallow Ground’ which went on to reach number 3 in the Official Folk Albums Chart and was a Mojo top 10 folk album of the year.
‘The finest instrumental duo on the traditional scene’, The Guardian
‘It’s all exquisitely played – the pair are still the dons.’ The Observer
Find out more at spiersandboden.com
Get your BanterFest SouthWest tickets here.
GRANNY’S ATTIC
With exceptional musicianship and boundless energy, Granny’s Attic are going from strength to strength. Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne (melodeon, anglo concertina, vocals), George Sansome (guitar, vocals) and Lewis Wood (violin, vocals) have honed their skills touring the UK and Europe since 2009. They are much loved by audiences up and down the country, with bookings everywhere from Cambridge Folk Festival to Cecil Sharp House.
The trio have been heralded for their lively performances and skilled delivery of traditional material, playing with verve, energy and their own inimitable style. Though grounded in tradition, they are keen to push new boundaries by exploring fresh approaches and writing their own compositions.
In May 2025, they released their latest album, Cold Blows The Wind, that sees them reach new heights both as performers and composers. This outstanding trio can hold audiences in the palm of their hand.
‘Great tunes, great energy, great arrangements, great stuff!’ Jon Boden (Spiers & Boden, Bellowhead)
“One of the most exciting and accomplished English folk acts on the scene right now” Folk Radio
Find out more at grannysattic.org.uk
Get your BanterFest SouthWest tickets here.
TRACK DOGS
Track Dogs are two Irishmen, an Englishman and an American, (Garrett Wall, Dave Mooney, Howard Brown & Robbie K.Jones), whose artistic name derives from the dark subterranean world of New York’s subway system. If they are still new to you, check out recent releases Fire on The Rails (2020) and Where to Now? (2022) and see why they are so hard to pigeonhole.
Formed in the Autumn of 2006 in Madrid around the eclectic line-up of acoustic guitar, electric bass, trumpet and cajón, over the following 18 years they have added banjo, ukulele and mandolin as well as honing their four part vocal harmonies, now very much an integral part of their “sound”.
With 7 albums under their belts (9 if you count the two they recorded as Garrett Wall Band 2006-2010) their versatile and accessible style allows Track Dogs to be at home in festivals as diverse as Glastonbury, Americana Music Madrid, Electric Picnic (Ireland’s premiere mega-festival), Grand Northern Ukulele Festival, Shrewsbury Folk Festival, Folk Alliance International, SXSW, Cork Jazz Festival or even Trafalgar Square’s Saint Patrick’s Day Super Stage.
Find out more at trackdogsmusic.com
Get your BanterFest SouthWest tickets here.
HARBOTTLE & JONAS
Partners in life and in music, dynamic Devon-based folk duo Harbottle & Jonas are one of the most exciting acts on the UK circuit today, combining a love of the richness of traditional folk with their own original and powerful songwriting.
Dave and Freya have developed a distinct and compelling signature sound, blending concertina, harmonium, banjo, stomp box, acoustic guitar and cittern with their beautiful and closely intertwined vocal harmonies. Subject matter covers the historical as well as the more personal, with their engaging live shows full of stories as well as beautiful songs. People, places and events are brought to life through their intimate, timeless music.
Best Band/Duo 2021 FATEA Magazine
“They come over like a cosmic, contemporary Fairport Convention” Jude Rogers, The Guardian
Find out more at harbottleandjonas.com
Get your BanterFest SouthWest tickets here.
HANNAH SANDERS & BEN SAVAGE
Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage release their 5th studio album “The Strangers’ Share” in October 2025. Following 2024’s “In The Dark We Grow” band tour, and their 2023 collaborations with folk-rock legends Fairport Convention, Hannah & Ben will be revisiting the intimate, pin-drop single microphone shows for which they’ve become renowned; touring across the UK this Autumn.
Their intimate live show has captivated audiences across the UK, US, Canada & Asia, sharing the stage with the likes of Fairport Convention, Sarah Jarosz, Martin Simpson, Ralph McTell, Seth Lakeman and Gretchen Peters.
‘This is folk music for everyone – a master-class in proficiency, an exercise in individuality and a declaration of love of the folk tradition from both sides of the Atlantic’ ★★★★★ Spiral Earth
Find out more at hannahbenmusic.com
Get your BanterFest SouthWest tickets here.
LAUREN SOUTH
Residing in Warwickshire, Lauren South is an accomplished singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist renowned for her original compositions and traditional melodies. With the accompaniment of tenor guitar, fiddle, and shruti box, her songs exude heartfelt emotion and vivid imagery, drawing inspiration from her passion for the nocturnal heavens, the natural world, and her journey through motherhood.
Beyond her solo endeavours, Lauren is an enthusiastic collaborator and constitutes half of the dynamic new duo, Donnelly & South, alongside Keith Donnelly. Her debut solo album Tiny Boat was released in November 2023.
“I love Lauren’s voice! It has a distinctive and unique beauty that allows her to turn every word she sings into a kind of magic formula.” Reg Meuross
Find out more at laurensouthmusic.com
Get your BanterFest SouthWest tickets here.
GEOFF LAKEMAN
GEOFF LAKEMAN, patriarch of a folk dynasty – as dad of Seth,Sean and Sam Lakeman and father-in-law of Cara Dillon and Kathryn Roberts – teases English and Irish folk, Americana and jazz songs out of his vintage duet concertina.
After 50 years as a journalist music-loving Geoff recorded his debut CD ,”After All These Years” at the age of 69, which garnered four and five-star reviews and national radio airplay.
He’s acclaimed for his “ masterful” playing of the rare Crane duet concertina and his “rich, melodic voice.”
‘A Glorious Listen’ Folk Roots UK
‘Big Hearted Excellence ‘ Daily Mirror
‘Pure Class’ Mike Harding
Find out more at geofflakeman.co.uk
Get your BanterFest SouthWest tickets here.
THE BISMARCKS
In the words of the band’s pianist Gareth Kiddier… “Many many years ago, before established time, and agreement on European tuning, there was an English Ceilidh dance band called The Bismarcks. I was privileged to play backup piano with Ed Rennie on melodeon and Nina Hansell on fiddle. It was an intense era, with lots of joy as well as work. We spent an inordinate amount of time making sure that Ed’s right hand and Nina’s fiddle were completely together, and then an even more ordinate amount of time convincing both my hands to play what Ed’s left hand was doing or suggesting. I remain so happy with what we played, and the recordings of the two albums are a great little archive of danceable English music.”
They released two critically acclaimed albums “Upstream” in 1999, and “Joanna” in 2005 with support from the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) which remain quintessential references on top quality English traditional dance music. They took a pause on public performance together in the early 2000s to fulfil family commitments and pursue other projects but reformed briefly for what were going to be a couple of one off gigs in 2023, including a headline ceilidh at Sidmouth Folk Week. Now celebrating their 40th anniversary in 2026 , we are delighted to have The Bismarcks playing for you at BanterFest SouthWest.
Hear their music at thebismarcks.bandcamp.com/music
Get your BanterFest SouthWest tickets here.
WINDJAMMER
Windjammer are a trio who cast timeless stories in a context of their own making. They blend self-penned songs and instrumentals with original, genre-bending arrangements of music drawn from the traditions of British folk.
Turning unflinchingly from soft, delicate emphasis to shoulder-rolling grind, and from light harmonies to prog-infused instrumentalism, they have a habit of keeping audiences surprised and engaged with ever-changing soundscapes. Their debut album, ‘Awaken’ (produced by Sean Lakeman), showcases and expands this palette in a studio context. The band, comprised of Jake Sonny Rowlinson, Jeremy Bunting and Fran Rowney, formed around the folk and acoustic music scene in Plymouth, where they maintain a strong local presence.
Jake and Fran met in 2014 at folk sessions in Plymouth’s famous Dolphin Inn, where they became firm friends and developed a short-lived duo. During this time, Jeremy was performing as a solo act and the three met whilst performing at the same venues around Plymouth. The three rapidly became friends and collaborators, forming Windjammer in 2015.
With an ever-growing fan base and a distinctive, uncompromisingly original approach to their craft, the trio are generating real momentum. Windjammer are increasingly performing further afield, with festival credits including Cambridge Folk Festival, Latitude and Hartlepool Folk Festival, whilst continuing to play an active role in the grassroots folk scene of Plymouth, East Cornwall and South Devon.
“musical wizardry and a determinedly outsider stance” Folk Radio UK
“Well-tuned, energy filled and charismatic” fRoots Magazine
“…an exciting sound and vision hoves into view” Max Reinhardt, BBC Radio 3
Find out more at windjammerband.co.uk
Get your BanterFest SouthWest tickets here.
TICKETS
As with BanterFest in Lincolnshire, BanterFest SouthWest tickets will be sold on a first-come-first-served basis. With numbers limited to a maximum of 250 tickets you’d best not hang around booking.
Ticketing priority is given to previous attendees and mailing list members before remaining tickets are then released for public sale. When all tickets have been sold we operate a waiting list system where any returned tickets are offered to people on the waiting list.
For further info and a few Frequently Asked Questions check out our Info & FAQs page
For our Terms & Conditions check out our T’s & C’s page
If you are interested in joining a mailing list so we can let you know news about future events and where you can catch Banter live, please email us at info@banter.band or pop your details in the pop up box here on the website.
Get your BanterFest SouthWest tickets here.
Get your BanterFest SouthWest tickets here.